Surprises
by WaterDrinker247
Summary: Mizore begins to realize that spending time with Nozomi is different than spending time with anyone else, and not spending time with her is harder than anything else.
1. Preparations

This story takes place before, during, and after the events described and portrayed in the anime and movie adaptations of _Hibike! Euphonium _and _Liz and the Blue Bird_. It is centered on Mizore and Nozomi. Fair warning- this is coming from somebody who has not yet read the light novels. On top of this, _Hibike! Euphonium_ _3_ has been announced but not released, so it is most likely that some details I put in the fanfiction are wrong or outdated. I do not own _Hibike! Euphonium_ or _Liz and the Blue Bird_, nor do I own any of the characters from them.

* * *

It really was a beautiful book. At least, that's what Mizore told herself as she read it over and over again.

Mizore, of course, was thinking about the book that Nozomi let her borrow. Well, Nozomi had only let Mizore borrow it for a little; she went to check out her own copy from the library after becoming invested in it. Again and again, Mizore renewed the book from the library, to the dismay of the librarian, who was dubious of Mizore's ability to return the book in a timely manner. But was it really the book itself that drew Mizore so close? She herself pondered, as if trying to convince herself that she was unaware of the real reason. But she knew it; she was just the same as the Blue Bird.

* * *

For context, Mizore was ridiculously talented at the oboe, even more so than some professionals. The reason she had worked so hard and gotten so good was for the aforementioned Nozomi. Nozomi was a relatively tall girl with mid-length black hair that was usually pulled back into a ponytail. Back in middle school, she found Mizore sitting alone, as she always had, and invited her to join the band alongside her. This was a first for Mizore, as she unfortunately had no friends to speak of (or to). But alongside, and _for_, Nozomi, she joined the band, practiced for hours on end, and honed her skills to be as close to perfect as a high school girl's could be.

Though there were bumps along the road that was their friendship, most notably during their first and third years, Mizore and Nozomi remained inseparable. Or at least, they were very close. As Mizore paged through her book for the sixth time, her eyes began to glaze over the pages. She was in love with the story, but reading it became monotonous after a while. She laid her head down, staring at the blowfish that swam around, seeming to hover and stare back from time to time.

Mizore thought Nozomi. "_Inseparable_," she had thought of the two. But where was Nozomi right now? Mizore wasn't entirely sure, but it was very likely that Nozomi was with her other friends from the flute section. Mizore was never sure what to feel when such a thing happened- when her best friend was out with groups of her other friends. She _could _feel jealous, but that would be wrong of her. Mizore knew she had no right to try and reserve Nozomi all to herself, no matter how much she may want to. She _could _feel bored, but that would also be wrong. Mizore definitely had other friends that she could talk to, text, or even hang out with, and it would be unfair to them to sit around and mope while she could spend time with them and enjoy herself. But for some reason, she felt different when spending time with other people.

* * *

Yuuko was the immediate second choice, but that meant Natsuki would be there as well- they were a package deal. Mizore had no gripe with either of them, in fact she liked both of them very much. However, the dynamic worked best when there were groups of two. Without Nozomi, Mizore would have been a third wheel to a bicycle, or perhaps Nozomi would have been a missing fourth wheel from a car. The same situation could be applied to her fourth choice, Kumiko, since she came with Reina. There was another option, though. She could hang out with Ririka.

Ririka was a really nice girl, who seemed to treasure spending time with her senpai far more than most other kouhai. Mizore rested her chin on her hand. It made Mizore feel nice that there was someone who was so intent on becoming close to her. Mizore pulled her phone out and opened her text conversation with Ririka. She looked at it briefly. It mostly consisted of Ririka sending "thank you"s and photos from their times hanging out. Surprisingly, whenever Ririka and Mizore texted, they would have decently lengthy chats. In person, it was hard to get her to speak for more than a few words. But over text, she was able to hold decent conversations. Mizore began to type.

* * *

_Hello, Ririka, what are you up to this afternoon?_

Ririka, who was always the first to initiate conversations between the two, was taken aback by Mizore's text. She screenshotted the notification because it was the first time such a thing had happened, and it was therefore a thing of beauty. She then began to type swiftly in response.

_Hello Mizo-senpai! I've been free, how about you?_

_I'm free as well. Do you want to practice with me for a little while?_

Again, Ririka took a screenshot of the message. "_How amazing..._" she thought as she went to retrieve her oboe.

* * *

The two practiced the piece for a little while. Ririka was grateful that her senpai was helping her, and Mizore was grateful to not be alone. After practicing, the two chatted a little- that is to say- Ririka chatted _at _Mizore. Regardless, they had both enjoyed the afternoon, and they had both become closer friends. The two left the school, where they parted ways to walk to their respective homes.

Mizore was glad that she didn't spend her afternoon all by herself. She thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Ririka, but for some reason, time passed differently than when she was with Nozomi. Really, time passed differently for Mizore any time other than when she was with Nozomi.

The next day, Mizore and Nozomi met early to practice their duet. As they walked through the large high school to make their way to the band room, Mizore felt lighter. Hearing Nozomi's footsteps making their way to her seat, seeing Nozomi's hair sway left and right as she walked, hearing Nozomi play her piece, seeing Nozomi smile during breaks- they all made Mizore feel like she was riding on cloud nine. Her playing slowed, and became sloppy by her standards, as she considered her spinning head. Why could she only feel this way when she was with Nozomi?

* * *

Nozomi noticed that something was off from Mizore's playing. "Hey, Mizore! Everything okay?" she asked with a warm, slightly concerned smile.

The smile melted Mizore's heart, and it was precisely for that reason that Mizore knew everything was not okay. "I'm… feeling funny." she replied slowly and deliberately. She was staring intensely at the music sheet, like if she looked away, something bad would happen. She wasn't exactly feeling funny; she was just feeling so happy right now, that it felt almost wrong. "Or maybe… I'm happy?" she thought aloud.

"What's with you and turning statements into questions?" Nozomi asked with a laugh. "And if you're happy, good! I'm happy too!"

* * *

After practicing for a little while longer, the two departed to go to their respective classes. Mizore stared at the floor as she walked to her class. Her cloud had leveled with the Earth and turned into fog.

Nozomi had a spring to her step as she walked to her class. She was incredibly happy to have just spent time with her favorite person, knowing that she would get to do so again later in the day. On top of that, she was going to spend a few hours out of the night as she had been the past few nights- looking for gifts. Mizore probably didn't suspect anything, since she was pretty forgetful, but Nozomi had spent an hour looking for gifts for Mizore, for her birthday, last night and the night before. She felt a little bad, leaving Mizore all by herself, but she would make up for it on her birthday.

During practice- or during breaks that were taken during practice hours- Nozomi and Mizore chatted. Because Mizore was incredibly hard to make talk, Nozomi had trouble coming up with ideas for birthday presents initially, but she eventually came up with a few ideas. The last of these ideas would be purchased after practice today. She was going to find a copy of a few books, but most importantly _Liz and the Blue Bird_, for her to own. In her mind, Nozomi memorized the few bookstores that she would be checking out; she couldn't afford not to find a nice copy of the book, so she had to check more than one place.

* * *

"Nozomi… do you… enjoy reading?" Mizore asked, seemingly out of the blue. Without realizing it, Nozomi had left her phone open, showing that directions to her first-choice bookstore were on the screen.

"Ah!" Nozomi exclaimed as she quickly turned her phone off. "N-not really, I just need to get better at it for tests, so I need some material!" she replied quickly, to save face. However, she didn't account for the fact that Mizore was very well acquainted with the bookstores of the town.

"Oh, well… there are closer bookstores that sell books like that…" Mizore replied, straightening her hair. "Do you… want me to take you to one?" she asked. She was eager to spend time with Nozomi, unknowing of the reason that Nozomi wanted to go to a bookstore in the first place.

As much as it pained Nozomi to do it, she had to reject Mizore's offer. "I'm sorry, I can't tonight! Maybe some other time?" she replied, doing her best to convey to Mizore that she genuinely wanted to spend time with her.

Mizore lowered her head ever so slightly. "Oh…" she replied, not quite sadly, but definitely hurt. "_Is she avoiding me?_" Mizore thought as she straightened her hair again. "_She's going, but she can't go with __**me**__?_"

* * *

Just as Nozomi was about to provide an explanation, practice was about to be on again, so they had to hurry back to their seats and begin to play. After practice was over, Nozomi began to walk to Mizore to make sure she was feeling alright. Just as she did, though, one of the flute girls tried to strike up a conversation with her. Nozomi was polite, but her patience was not infinite, so she briefly chatted with the flute girl before making an excuse to leave. But as the crowd parted to let her through, she saw an empty seat instead of Mizore.

Mizore was again stuck in an emotional limbo. However, this time, instead of feeling a whole lot of nothing, she felt sad. She entered the chemistry lab, walked over to the blowfish, fed them, and walked out. She had no intention of sticking around at the school this afternoon. As she walked out of the front doors of the building, she began to hear something. A familiar, though faster than normal, trot was making its way closer to her. Mizore turned around to see a worried-looking Nozomi marching towards her. "Mizore…" she began, but paused, as if worried that Mizore would interject. After no interjection came, she continued. "I really do want you to show me the bookstore, can we do that tomorrow or the next day? I feel like we haven't hung out outside of school in a while…" at the last statement, she rubbed the back of her neck.

Mizore's face lit up. She nodded. "Are you… meeting with some friends at the bookstore today?" she asked. Obviously, Mizore had given some thought about why Nozomi was going to the bookstore. She didn't read that much, so this was the conclusion Mizore came to.

Nozomi smiled. "_Good, she's clueless!_" she thought. "Yeah, but it's one of the flutes. I was worried you'd feel awkward around them, you know?" she explained.

* * *

Mizore nodded and straightened her already-perfectly straight hair. "Then... I'll see you tomorrow..." she said as the two went their separate ways. As Nozomi went to find the books on her list, Mizore went home and laid down. She definitely felt relieved that Nozomi wasn't avoiding her, but she was still all alone at the moment. She decided against staying at the school, so she couldn't ask anyone to hang out or practice, so she just pet her cat while listening to music. She let out a long exhale. "_I miss her…_"

Nozomi was successfully able to find the books that she wanted to get Mizore without having to go all around town. She took them home, boxed them up, and pulled her phone out.

* * *

_Hey Mizore! Before we go to the bookstore tomorrow, we need to stop by my house! Is that okay with you?_

To her surprise, Mizore responded immediately.

_Of course! Then will you come with me to feed the blowfish?_

_I'd love to! Alright, I'll see you bright and early then!_

* * *

She set her phone down and smiled. "_I can't believe she doesn't realize her own birthday is tomorrow!_" Nozomi thought with a giggle. She stretched her arms and laid back on her bed. "_No harm- it'll just make the surprise better!_"


	2. Birthday Part 1

This story takes place before, during, and after the events described and portrayed in the anime and movie adaptations of _Hibike! Euphonium _and _Liz and the Blue Bird_. It is centered on Mizore and Nozomi. Fair warning- this is coming from somebody who has not yet read the light novels. On top of this, _Hibike! Euphonium_ _3_ has been announced but not released, so it is most likely that some details I put in the fanfiction are wrong or outdated. I do not own _Hibike! Euphonium_ or _Liz and the Blue Bird_, nor do I own any of the characters from them.

* * *

Nozomi went about her school day normally, for the most part. The different part was how excited she was to be able to spend the afternoon with her favorite person. Normally, Nozomi was the one to make plans, but Mizore had actually made some for once, inviting Nozomi to feed the blowfish with her. Nozomi recalled chatting with Mizore about them, but she had never actually gone to the chemistry lab with the intention of feeding them or paying them any mind. The only time she went, other than when she had that room as a class, was to clear her mind.

Nozomi, like many of the other girls in the band, was painfully aware of Mizore's raw talent- and therefore _jealous_ of it. However, Mizore, being naive and innocent, was blissfully ignorant of any gripes people had with her. Nozomi cared about Mizore more than anything else in the world, but she couldn't help but feel hopelessly outclassed during their duet for _Liz and the Blue Bird_. She went to the chemistry lab to clear her mind, and Mizore showed up to assist in that. One heartfelt conversation later, and Nozomi was no longer jealous of Mizore's ability- she simply began to strive to reach such heights herself.

* * *

There was no longer anything inhibiting Nozomi's care for Mizore, nor were there any reasons for one to avoid the other. They were best friends once more; it was only natural that they should spend time together after school. Obviously, they had band practice together, but she and Mizore did not often talk during practice, as others would come up to her and divert her attention. This was especially the case directly before and after band practice, though it was different for today. As soon as practice ended, Nozomi politely brushed others off, making an effort to reach Mizore before she packed her things up and left. Of course, they would be going to the same place, but Nozomi had the strong urge to walk with Mizore. "Aww, but Nozomi-senpaiii…" the other girls who played flute complained, but these complaints were falling onto ears that were not deaf, but did not have nor take time to listen.

After brushing the others off, Nozomi finally reached Mizore. Mizore, who had not been expecting to see Nozomi's full attention until they were in the chemistry lab, was a little shocked. She had been in the process of packing everything up, but she took a moment to stroke her own hair, out of habit, to help process such an unexpected event. "Nozomi… did you not want to talk to your other friends?" Mizore asked slowly.

Nozomi felt a pang of guilt upon hearing this. She felt bad that Mizore considered this, and made a mental note to engage her directly after band practice more often. She shook her head. "Spending time with them is great, but I wanted to spend time with you." she replied. "Besides, we're going to the same place, right? We should walk together!"

Mizore took another moment to process this. "_Wow… I'm so… happy…_" she thought as she stared, starry-eyed at Nozomi, who seemed to have just proposed the most wonderful idea ever. She must have been staring very intently, because Nozomi tilted her head, and struggled to regain her attention. "Mizore?" she asked, trying to get her attention for presumably the second or third time.

Mizore blinked, snapping back to her senses. "Nn…" she voiced, nodding as she finished packing her things up. "Let's go, then…"

* * *

Comparatively, Mizore was a slow walker, and Nozomi was a fast one. There were three major reasons for this. First, there was a height difference between the two. Nozomi was approximately 160cm (5'2") while Mizore was closer to 154cm (5'0"). Second, Mizore was incredibly airheaded. This is not to say that she is a fool; simply put, she was distracted often. She was not, however, distracted by simple things such as scenery. Whenever she faltered in her walking pace, it was because she was deep in thought about things or because she saw a cute animal to admire. Third, Nozomi often had far more of a spring to her step than Mizore did. It seemed as though she was eager to get to whatever destination she was going to, even if she was not actually.

However, today, Nozomi walked slower. This was not for any bad reason, though. She was not feeling poorly, nor was she particularly tired. She simply chose to walk slower so that she could walk beside Mizore. Usually, when the two of them walked places, Nozomi would end up far ahead of Mizore. Even though this was not always the case, if Nozomi was not paying attention, it was close to inevitable. This time, Nozomi made an effort to walk beside Mizore, paying close attention to when she slowed down and when she sped back up. Mizore did not notice these things, but she subconsciously became happier as a result of them.

* * *

"Uggh, leave me alone!" an annoyed voice cried out, from further down the hall. Nozomi grinned because, not only did she recognize the bickering as very familiar, but she noticed how this didn't make Mizore slow down, meaning Mizore was really not paying attention to her surroundings. "Oh, you two!" the voice cried out.

Mizore suddenly looked up (as she had been staring at the floor) to see Yuuko Yoshikawa and Natsuki Nakagawa. Yuuko seemed to be frustrated, and Natsuki seemed to be exceedingly pleased with herself, so it was apparent to Nozomi that Natsuki was teasing Yuuko, but this was not apparent to Mizore. "Yo, Nozomi, Mizore." Natsuki said to the two.

"Hey. You two having fun arguing?" Nozomi asked, curious as to what sort of thing Yuuko was irritated about.

Yuuko rubbed her temples, trying to compose herself, since she was more civil with Nozomi than Natsuki, and more civil with Mizore than anyone else. "Natsuki was just busy trying to get a reaction out of me…" Yuuko said tiredly, as if she had been putting up with it for a while.

"-And succeeding." Natsuki added, making Yuuko noticeably more annoyed. "But you two seem to be busy, yourselves. Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, we were actually going to go feed the blowfish." Nozomi replied. Under most circumstances, Nozomi would simply invite the two to come with them, since they were friends, and there was no real reason not to. Mizore knew she would still enjoy this scenario, but it was not her ideal one, so her eyes drifted down to the floor. She fully expected Nozomi to invite the two. "Ah, speaking of which, we should probably get to doing that, sorry!" Nozomi said, clapping her hands together in apology.

"Alright, see you later then." Natsuki replied, as she immediately turned her gaze towards Yuuko, almost menacingly. Yuuko knew that she would have no respite from this torment, so she just sighed and accepted her fate.

"Get home safe, you two." Yuuko called to them as she began walking, doing her best to ignore Natsuki's pestering.

* * *

Mizore's eyes were, for the second time today, wide and starry; she was completely surprised. "Nozomi… did you not want to bring them along?" Mizore asked timidly as she stroked her hair. Clearly, this was the expectation, and Nozomi had subverted it. After all, for as far as Mizore knew, Nozomi probably liked Natsuki as much as she liked her. Why _wouldn't_ she invite her and Yuuko along?

Nozomi just smiled for a moment. "Mizore, I already told you. I wanted to spend time with you." There was no lie, no hidden message, nothing. Nozomi wanted to spend time with Mizore, and, as it seemed, only Mizore. Mizore's heart skipped a beat, and she stopped walking completely. She continued to stare at Nozomi. "_This… I would never trade this for anything…_" she thought as she stared at and through her friend. "Mizore?" Nozomi said, grabbing her friend by the shoulder. "Come on, the fish are waiting." She didn't want to resort to taking the lead in walking, but she figured that it would be rude to brush off Yuuko and Natsuki only to take their time anyways.

* * *

Mizore walked faster, at Nozomi's urging, and they made it to the lab. Nozomi leaned against the counter while Mizore sat in front of the tank. Mizore stared intently at the blowfish, almost as if watching them eat was hypnotic. Nozomi didn't personally see the appeal to it, though she did know that she didn't have to share all the same interests as Mizore. Nozomi took a moment to enjoy the scene before her. The light filtering in through the windows, golden as the sun was setting, going through the fish tank and landing on Mizore's silky hair and pale face. "_Beautiful…_" she thought as she tapped her fingers.

Mizore eventually spoke up, breaking the silence and snapping Nozomi out of her daze. "Nozomi… do you… like spending time with me?..." she asked. Nozomi was a little taken aback from this. Mizore clearly had been thinking of this for some time, but had not brought it up until now. Mizore, who was constantly worried about losing her friend, whether it be to her other friends or not, did not want to bother Nozomi in any way. She felt that, maybe by inviting Nozomi to feed the fish with her, she had been preventing Nozomi from doing other things that she might have found otherwise fun.

Nozomi just smiled. "Of course I do, Mizore." she replied. Again, there was no hint of deceit, not that Mizore would be able to pick any out. Mizore felt, deep down, that she already knew this, but it made her happy to hear regardless. "How about you? Do you like spending time with me?" Nozomi asked, turning her own question onto her.

Mizore's head, which had been resting against her arm and facing the fish tank, raised up to face Nozomi. This was a question that Mizore had never heard, and a type of question she did not hear frequently. "Nozomi…" she began. "I… I do!" Mizore started saying this softly, but she spoke louder and more confidently towards the end. She was not used to raising her voice in such a manner, but she wanted to send this point home and was not sure how else to manage this.

* * *

Nozomi smiled again, brighter this time, and tilted her head a little to the side. "That makes me happy to hear." she replied. "The fish are fed now, so how about we get going?" she asked as she picked up her bag. Nozomi led the way, Mizore close behind her. Soon, Mizore was by her side, after Nozomi slowed down enough to permit this. "This is really nice." Nozomi said as they walked.

Mizore stared at Nozomi, curious as to what she meant. "...Walking?" she asked curiously. As it was previously stated, Mizore was somewhat of an airhead.

Nozomi snickered. "_Yeah, what did I expect. It's Mizore after all, I could never expect her to get what I meant from saying just that._" Nozomi thought. "Yeah, I guess. But also, spending time with you." she replied. It was true; even if Mizore was quiet, and hardly spoke, Nozomi found her company to be preferable to that of anyone else. Even if few words were exchanged, and they simply stared at a fish tank or musical instruments for tens of minutes to hours, the fact that they did this together made each of them indescribably happy. It was true that Nozomi was very sociable, and enjoyed speaking, so she would often try to engage her friend in conversation, but she only wanted Mizore to respond at her own pace.

* * *

There were more bits of silence and appreciation of the person next to them, between the two as they walked. Mizore, who was near the happiest she had ever been, was not even sure where they were walking, since she was so distracted. Before she even realized it, they were in front of Nozomi's house. "_Oh right… I forgot we were going here today!_" Mizore thought to herself.

Nozomi noticed Mizore's reaction and snickered a little. "_How forgetful can one girl be?..._" she thought as she opened the front door. "Are you coming in?" she asked Mizore, who had been staring at the entrance. "_I wonder why she's been pausing so much more than usual…_" Nozomi pondered, staring at Mizore.

"Oh… y-yes, please forgive my intrusion." she said as she slipped her shoes off and slid house slippers on in their place. Mizore wracked her brain, trying to remember why she ended up here. "We're going to the bookstore today…" she thought aloud, after the realization finally came into her mind.

Nozomi laughed some more. "Yup, we are. I'm glad you remembered, but I would've reminded you if you didn't." she replied. "Anyways, make yourself at home." Mizore had been into Nozomi's house before, but she still was not comfortable treating it as her own, so she just followed Nozomi around the house. "_This… makes things difficult…_" Nozomi thought, realizing that surprising Mizore would be difficult unless they separated.

"Are we… going to make something to eat?" Mizore asked. Despite being forgetful and airheaded, she was not foolish. In fact, it was quite the contrary. Upon remembering that she had been invited over during the previous night's text conversation, she realized that Nozomi likely had a particular reason for this. Since Nozomi made it known that they were going to be stopping here, and it was between the school and the bookstore, she concluded that their stop was for dinner.

* * *

"_Yeah… this has become very difficult…_" Nozomi thought, a little antsy as she had to choose between being a good host and surprising Mizore. Suddenly, the realization popped into her head, that this was a good question that she could answer perfectly. "No, we aren't; I've already made us something. Wait at the table for a bit, I'll bring it to you." she said. Now, she could leave the room, get the presents, and bring the cake out of the fridge without any hitch.

Mizore smiled faintly. "Okay… thank you…" she said as she sat politely at the table. She stared at her surroundings, taking them in as she waited for Nozomi. "_She was right… it is nice…_" Mizore thought, as the faint smile on her face grew ever less faint. For some reason, being here, with only Nozomi, felt perfect. Not only did it feel pleasant, since she was with her favorite person, but it felt totally natural, since she didn't have to change her behavior at all. Even if she did change her behavior, Nozomi didn't seem to respond any differently than normal; she was just as caring, accepting, and pleasant as always. "_I wish I could be with Nozomi always…_" Mizore thought, now stroking her hair.

* * *

Nozomi, with her arms full of an assortment of things, walked back into the living room, where Mizore was seated. Mizore stared at her, as she often had this day. This made Nozomi glad she waited until now for the perfect surprise. "Seeing that expression… this makes it all worth the wait!" Nozomi thought as she sat the cake down on the table and the dishes and silverware they needed to eat it beside it.

"Happy birthday!" Nozomi said cheerfully.


End file.
